Spitfire pilot with a ‘twinkle in his eye’ once told Prince a ‘risqué joke’
TRIBUTES HAVE been paid to one of the last remaining Battle of Britain Spitfire pilots after he died at the age of 99.
Ken Wilkinson, who was among those famously dubbed “The Few” by Winston Churchill, died on Monday, the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust (BBMT) confirmed yesterday.
The charismatic former Flying Officer once shared a risqué joke with the Duke of Cambridge – also telling him off for “flying choppers” – and was described by the wife of a fellow RAF pilot as one of “the Brylcreem Boys with a twinkle in their eyes”.
The head of the RAF led tributes to the former fighter pilot, who battled the Luftwaffe from bases in East Anglia in the desperate days of 1940, when the Nazis threatened to invade the UK.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier, the Chief of the Air Staff, said: “Ken, as one of The Few, represented an extraordinary generation to whom we owe a great debt that should never be forgotten, our freedom being won by their sacrifices.
The chartered surveyor, from Solihull, Birmingham, was born in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, the son of an aircraft manufacturer.
He found his love for flying while watching aircraft tests at Farnborough.
At the outbreak of war, he joined the RAF and flew their famous fighter with 616 and 19 Squadrons, protecting industrial targets in the Midlands.
In a 2015 interview for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, he said: “I didn’t carry any lucky charms, but I did wear a pair of my wife’s knickers around my neck.
“And I was one of the lucky ones. I saw friends fall out of the sky, aircraft go up in flames ... terrible things.”
In the same year, he met the Duke of Cambridge during celebrations for the centenary of 29 (Reserve) Squadron at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.
The BBMT said in a statement that it had learned “with great sadness” of Mr Wilkinson’s death, describing him as a “true gentleman who we shall miss dearly”.
Its chairman Richard Hunting described the death of a man he had known since 2001 as a “sad moment because he was a symbol of what was done” to protect Britain.
Mr Wilkinson is survived by his daughter, Penny, and grandson, Piers.